We knew that Augmented Reality was going to be big for Facebook in 2018, but now the platform’s started releasing AR updates it seemingly can’t stop. At the F8 Conference in May, Zuck and friends announced support for the technology in Facebook Messenger, and now they’ve gone one step further – AR ads in News Feeds
The ads (which we assume will only appear in mobile feeds) will be differentiated with their call to action – asking users if they want to ‘tap to try it on’.
Once tapped, the ad will open the user’s camera and allow them to see what the product will look like on them. You’ll have the option to add in product variations (e.g. different colours or patterns), and users will be able to hit a ‘buy now’ button directly from the AR camera which will open the product page on your website (there’s no need to go back and forth).
Aside from the obvious fashion applications for this, we’d love to see furniture and homeware brands using these ads to display their products (it looks like you can swap cameras on your phone within the ad!) – we could imagine seeing what art would look like on our walls before we buy it.
The format is being tested with a select group of advertisers right now, but we can’t wait to see it rolled out further.
